From a Christmas Pudding to a Christmas Cracker - Weight Loss Motivation

I can empathise with you Jude, when I'm stressed I tend to make poor food choices and eat at bad times too. I still havent managed to shift a single pound of the half stone I put on when away over Christmas and am struggling to motivate myself to even try.

Okay, I weighed myself this morning, do I dare post it.... I was 91.6kg. I thought I would be 91 max. It took me four months of hell two years ago to lose weight, I was 95kg and down in the dumps. But I managed some serious motivation, and had the funds for a PT. We are closing on a house the end of Feb so funds are at zero so its all on me.

Week 1 Day 0 = 91kg

That's not that bad really, its what c.14stone? I was 15 and a half at one stage after giving up competitive sport and going mad on the pints & late night visits to the chipper etc. Managed to lose it thankfully. IIRC you're a good bit taller than me so are probably meant to be c.12-12 and a half stone as a healthy weight?.... so wouldn't be too disheartened (though I appreciate the hard work that got you down the first time), your not exactly in gastric band territory! Chin up, small changes and some exercise and you'll start moving in the right direction in no time.

Jumping back into this thread for what must be the 10th time, give or take! This time, I really need to give myself a kick up the bum!

My problem, without sounding like excuses hopefully, is that I've gotten totally out of the habit of actually eating proper meals. I'm on my own a lot with the kids & I always seem to be in a rush and eating properly just seems to pass me by. For example, I get up at 7 with the kids & by the time, I have them breakfasted, dressed & ready for school, we are running out the door & I've normally just managed to down a cup of tea. Then with working from home fulltime, I find I'm back from the school run & trying to scramble to get the house tidied up after the morning rush & get started with work, it's often 11 before I've even thought of eating & then I'm normally either grabbing something quickly or a biscuit because I am so busy with work. At lunchtime, I try to get my walk in so then I'm back & it's the rush to get back to work etc. And then in the evenings, once the kids have been collected & homework done, prep for the next day, get them to bed, I'm too tired to make a dinner for just one so I just have a sandwich & go to bed. So basically, I'm surviving on tea & biscuits 😕

So I've decided that I need to take myself in hand & start looking after myself, instead of looking after everyone else all of the time. My energy levels are shocking as you can imagine. From a fitness perspective, I'm actually not too bad. I walk every day, sometimes twice a day if I can get out in the evenings, play football & go for a run every now and again. I just need to get the diet under control. With Lent starting this week, I've decided to give up the biscuits & chocolate & really concentrate on getting three square meals a day. I've started this morning by having a bowl of porridge when I got back from the school run instead of running around like a headless chicken trying to clean the house!

If you've made it this far in this essay, fair play 😜

I don't batch cook per say but I do put the leftovers in the freezer, it's remembering to take them out that is the problem! I've taken a chicken curry out of the freezer for tonights dinner. I just need to get back in the habit of planning meals. I used to be great at that, I'd plan all the dinners for the week, check what we had in the freezer & would mostly stick to it. So it's just that I've fallen out of the habit in the last year or so. I also need to use my slow cooker more often I think so that dinner is ready when I'm finished work, rather than trying to start making it during the busiest part of the day.

@Mystery Egg great post, being happy in yourself is all that matters and each person has a different view of what makes them happy.

@CheerLouth I could have written a lot of that myself. Two kids, working mad hour mean I don't structure my meals and eat when I can, I then over eat and snack on high calorie food, not unhealthy food. Meat, quinoa, veggies etc but enough for two meals.

I have take an milder view of this and have gone easy as my body isnt able for the old ways. I did two light gym sessions and two light jogs this week. I was a little bit stricter on lunches but didnt kill myself. I also had one night of a few drinks. I know week 1 is water weight and a clean out, so I will have to be a bit stricter the next few weeks.

Week 0 = 91.6kg

Week 1 = 91.0kg (-0.6kg/1.3lb)

Week 1 in the bag and I'm down 3.6lbs.

Delighted as I have not been very strict with myself. As per Mystery Eggs very relatable post, I've spent far too many years vilifying myself for eating & thinking that my worth has been directly linked to my weight which is why I have been so reluctant to start trying to lose weight. I've done all the counting points/syns whatever & while I lost weight on those diets, I've always put it back on plus the VAT while destroying my relationship with food & my body. So this time, I'm trying the gentle approach; I am counting calories but nothing is off limits but I'm really trying to be sensible.

This week, I really concentrated on having my three meals which I did & I also tried to have protein with every meal which I find hard to do. I did limit the biscuits but still had a small bit of chocolate every evening. I also didn't deprive myself or beat myself up if I went outside my three meals or over my calories. I had a scone on Thursday with a friend & had an impromptu evening out with Mr. CL on Friday evening. Previously if I was trying to lose weight, I would have either not gone for the meal or agonised over the food choices. Instead, I had my scampi & two glasses of wine which I thoroughly enjoyed. I had a bite out of Mr. CL's dessert which was enough. I also made sure I got out for a walk every day & managed to get two runs in the bag too.

@CheerLouth "put it back on plus the VAT" 😂😂 I love, that, cos it's sooo true.

I've done the WW and the Unislim and the carb free, intermittent fasting, etc.. all over the years. They all worked but 6 mths later I was back where I started, with interest.

Am going to give Bodyslims a go cos it sounds much more lifestyle oriented than "diet". I'm a big foodie so cutting out different food completely doesn't really suit me, but just being fully aware of calories will suit me much better and knowing that if I splurge in one area (as a one off) I can compensate somewhere else. It will also get me moving properly again. When I commit to a program I'm actually quite disciplined so they usually work, but myself and OH both need to do this now as we've found that getting older sucks and we really have to put in effort now to stay fit and healthy. Will try to improve the diet and fitness a bit between now and late April when the next program starts so it's not too much of a shock to the system, then it's 10 weeks of work right up to our summer holiday. We're touring Central Europe for 2 weeks and I don't want to be stressing over what clothes fit and can I make the hike up the mountain.

Love the support here and may we all be massive losers this year😁

(jaysus auto correct had us all as massive lovers🤣🤣)

Week 0 = 91.6kg

Week 1 = 91.0kg (-0.6kg/1.3lb)

Week 2 = 91.1kg (+0.1kg/0.2lb)

Not a great week, not a terrible week. It has been a mad week at work running around, late nights, unexpected two days travel to KSA, issues with mortgage approval, and a family member getting the last rights yesterday. Sadly we are signing for a house tomorrow (if the bank gets sorted today) so we cant fly home until Saturday morning.

TLDNR: I stress eat.

Sorry to hear this @Jude13, take care of yourself

Week 1: -3.6lbs

Week 2: -1.8lbs

Week 3: -0.4lbs

Slightly slower week for me this week - definitely didn't get as much exercise in as usual with the weather & had a day or two of not feeling great, but still happy out with just under 6lbs gone in three weeks.

Week 0 = 91.6kg

Week 1 = 91.0kg (-0.6kg/1.3lb)

Week 2 = 91.1kg (+0.1kg/0.2lb)

Week 3 (last week) = N/A I didn't weigh myself, I was back home in the in laws and couldn't see a scales. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Week 4 = 91.5kg (+0.4kg/0.9lb)

You have to allow youself some life, great works @CheerLouth

Had a mess of a weekend again so knuckling down this week, I hope!

Had a light workout in the garden with the OH last night, my god I am unfit. My hip and knee are in bad shape, think its time for a doc's appointment.

Last night was the first evening I didnt eat anything between dinner and bed. I know that doesnt sound like a big deal but it was for me.

Mothers day here today so I got up early to make a brekkie for the OH. I wolfed down the left over homemade hollandaise which is basically half a block of kerry gold. Hoping to get to the gym at lunch.

Preach, if you look back at my 95kg to 77kg tow years ago on this thread its simple cals in v cals out.

Weigh in tomorrow, stopping the rot.